Ten Social Media Changes for Pet Bloggers

Social media changes at a near lightning speed these days. My rule has always been not to try to be the best at every social media avenue…but to be pretty darned good, if not better, at the ones that affect me directly.

It's hard to keep up, though, I admit, so here are 10 social media changes that pet bloggers and microbloggers might want to keep in mind for surfing through the highways and biways of the social media landscape:

10. Pinterest: Gone are the days of displaying a URL in your pin description. You can still type a URL in a pin description, but don't expect it to show up as a URL. Additionally, if trying to pin from a blog, you'll need to use the Embed button on Pinterest in their "Share" menu.

9. Twitter: Brand engagement has changed and so have the times. Many pet bloggers consider themselves to be brands, and rightfully so: We are a brand. The bottom line is that images rule on Twitter. In fact, according to Social Media Today, "Tweets with image links have twice the engagement rates compared to tweets without images!" Even cooler (and a bit odd, too): Do you ever ask your followers to Retweet? When followers are explicitly asked to and "Retweet" is
spelled out, the retweet rate is 23X higher than the average. When using
the shortened term "RT" instead, the retweet rate is only 10X higher. Again, this according to Social Media Today.

8. LinkedIn: A total of 61 percent of users say that LinkedIn is their primary go-tool social media resource tool. From a pet blogging perspective, I have connected with many in the business world on LinkedIn. Have you tried it? According to PRDaily.com, the largest contingent using the platform is the 35-44 age group.

7. Facebook: Hashtags seem be all the rage on Facebook these days. Are you using and tracking hashtags as part of your blog's social media strategy? Did you know that hashtags written in response to a post bear no weight in the grand scheme of things? In other words, if the hashtag does not appear in the original post, it will show up in replies but does not "count" nor will it be seen in that hashtag's summary.

6. Instagram: Video has arrived. Personally, I totally heart Instagram and encourage you to follow #BlogPaws and @BlogPaws. Facebook owns Instagram and now that they have integrated video into their offerings, Vine is taking a hit of sorts. Have you tried Instagram?

5. YouTube: The popularity and creation of videos on YouTube continues to climb. From tutorials to video webisodes and product reviews, we all want that "viral" element. Blogger Jeff Bullas has a phenom infographic about YouTube and all of its changes and offerings.

4. Pet Blogging: Pet bloggers are a force with which to be reckoned: This I write time and again. The power of the pet blogger has finally taken hold. Thankfully, with BlogPaws on the cutting edge of all things pet blog, we can offer more to our community members. The Pet Blogger Network is one of the most solid offerings we have available: Make money for blogging and be noticed for consistency and quality.

3. Facebook Contest and Promotion Rules: Ta-da, the day has arrived. Facebook has changed its policy on what can and cannot be run as a contest or giveaway on its social media network. Social Media Examiner outlines the recent changes in more detail, but the jist is this: Pet bloggers can run a contest through an app or your timeline. There are still rules, but Facebook allows you to now require people to like a post and/or comment on a post to be entered. Nifty! Proceed with caution.

2.Google Plus: The cover photo has changed: Have you updated yours? Photos as of this writing can be 2120 pixels x 1192 pixels, which is well, ginormous.

1. Facebook is rolling out more change overs to pet microbloggers, as in pet personal pages are not allowed on Facebook. You may have a pet business page, such as a blog, but pets who have a personal profile are at risk for deletion or conversion. Facebook deems the pages "fake" as in non human, so ensure you are prepared by converting your pet's personal profile to his or her own page.

These are great tips, Carol! Thanks. That is very interesting about the huge difference when you spell out “retweet” rather than just “please RT.” Will have to remember that!

http://ask-fisher.com Jobi and Fisher

My initial personal FB page has changed. In the process, my original header is gone an they have me listed as living in Boston. (I live in St Pete, FL.)I would rather they chose NYC as my fictitious address, but I do like Boston, too. It isn’t so much that I care about their change, I am just very curious (and a little freaked out) as to why they chose Boston.

http://www.catchatwithcarenandcody.com Caren Gittleman

you pretty much covered them all! Great job!

http://www.fidoseofreality.com Carol Bryant

I learn a lot when I do research for these pieces, Jackie. I also found out at a seminar I attended that when introducing a link on Twitter, be sure to put a colon at the helm of it. Like this:
Something about having the colon there garners more retweets- strange right?